Spindle completely separated from balljoint!!

[spacepirate]

The ones I have for sale are not damaged and I have them up for sale on this site too. I'm not trying to hide anything in anyway but went with the Tru Turn setup and don't need these anymore.

[dontlifttoshift]

But what happened? Why did the insert come out of the spindle?

[spacepirate]

I sent the spindle back to Luke to check into it and I'm just waiting for him to chime in here. It was installed properly to the correct specifications.

[regal454]

Any word on the cause of the damage? What are the other options for a Tall spindle without drop?

[Johnny Blaze]

I would hope the manufacture would chime in, if they wish to continue sales.

[MonzaRacer]

I have seen several sets of these spindles and no ill effects. My bet is either they are too short for use with ridetech arms or the ball joint angle may NOT allow the spindle and arm to play nice together. From damage I saw, but this is just preliminary observation.

[tonyvol]

Hey guys, this post has me very concerned about the L&H spindles I have on my 67 camaro. I haven't driven the car yet since I'm still in the process of completing my build. Is anyone using these with Speedtech control arms? The upper control arm I have is the one Speedtech uses with their AFX spindles. So it has no droop so it suppose to work with the taller than stock spindle. I thought Luke would have chimed in by now on the cause of the failure. Sure doesn't give me a good feeling about driving and pushing the car to the limit if there is a design flaw in these spindles. I've put a ton of money in this project and a failure like this probably won't end good.

[regal454]

I thought Luke would have chimed in by now on the cause of the failure. Sure doesn't give me a good feeling about driving and pushing the car to the limit if there is a design flaw in these spindles.

I was looking to purchase a set of tall spindles myself, and I liked the L & H spindle for the fact that there is no drop built into them. If Luke were confident in this product, I don't understand why he wouldn't have discussed his findings by this time?

[tonyvol]

Yeah I agree. Silence may not be the best thing if you are trying to sell these spindles.

[killer69]

Hey guys, this post has me very concerned about the L&H spindles I have on my 67 camaro. I haven't driven the car yet since I'm still in the process of completing my build. Is anyone using these with Speedtech control arms? The upper control arm I have is the one Speedtech uses with their AFX spindles. So it has no droop so it suppose to work with the taller than stock spindle. I thought Luke would have chimed in by now on the cause of the failure. Sure doesn't give me a good feeling about driving and pushing the car to the limit if there is a design flaw in these spindles. I've put a ton of money in this project and a failure like this probably won't end good.

I certainly can not comment on this issue but the Speedtech/AFX spindle on Speedtech arms has been arround for many years, we have not seen nor herd of any issues. Now when we sell the Tall spindles we sell our high clearance upper arms if the customer wants the ideal set up.

[lh_kustoms]

Hey guys sorry for the long overdue reply to this thread. We have recently moved our shop im stil trying to finalize an agonizing 2 year long divorce court battle and I just Had a baby girl last week so to say Ive been busy is a complete understatement. We have thoroughly inspected the spindle from Travis and both Engineers and machinist have determined that the failure was due to inadequate clearance to bump stop and because there wasnt enough clearance between the LCA bumpstop and the frame that overtime the insert was "hammered" out of the spindle. After a thorough inspection you can clearly see that the insert was forced out from the LCA bumpstop constantly contacting the frame due to not enough clearance. This was also verified after speaking with the shop that installed the whole kit. With the ride height that the car was setup at there was barely over an inch of clearance between the bumpstop and frame. so as the car was driven and the suspension compressed it was continually "hammering" the upper insert out until it finally gave way. As Marc from SC&C stated in the beginning of this thread that the force was like if the spindle was placed in a vice and you used a punch and hammer and hammered the insert out of the threads. Had there been adequate clearance between the bumpstop and frame this never would have happened. understandably this is concerning to some of you and if anyone running our spindles has questions or concerns about there spindles please feel free to call me at the shop 503-328-6172 or on my cell at 503-819-9043. Our Tall Pro Billet spindles are finally back in stock and ready to ship for those that have been waiting. For those that have already purchased them and were on backorder your spindles are shipping this week and you should receive them by this time next week.

[dontlifttoshift]

I am having trouble visualizing how inadequate clearance between the lower control arm and the bump stop on the frame caused the insert to hammer out of the top of the spindle where it is attached to the upper control arm.

Let me add to that, I am not stirring the pot, I just want to know the mechanics behind how that occurred.

[MrQuick]

I`ll be following this closely. It`s very possible that it`s not a spindle or A arm design/construction issue but a case of good parts not working and playing well together in a particular set up. The ridetech arms are good pieces but are optimized for ridetech`s tall spindle which has a 2" drop. With L&H non drop spindles and a car run at the same final ride height as it would be with Ridetech 2" drop spindles the angle of the upper A arms will be about 14* more steep. That uses up almost half of the ball joints travel,making it very possible that it could bind in bump. That would slam the ball joint taper insert back and forth in the spindle like a hammer (note the bore in the spindle appears to be ovoid now) and could cause it to loosen up and release. The lower A arms have no bump stops,nor do the coil overs (just a polymer ring to avoid shock damage) so the suspension can pretty much travel until the car hits the ground. With an all Ridetech set up with their spindles the headers would likely hit the ground before you over travel the ball joints so it`s not an issue and the lack of bump stops allows people to lower the car more for shows etc. but with the non drop L&H spindles the additional angle could easily put things in a bind. My guess is that a set of correct height bump stops or even a few more clicks of compression dampening might have avoided the problem even with mixed application parts. Luckily this type of failure can only separate when the wheel is off the ground and hanging which is why the car still drove fine. If it hadn`t been jacked up it may have continued to work okay until it rattled enough to invite inspection. Spacepirate, even though you didn`t buy your parts from us please feel free to give me a call. I`d be happy to go over your set up with you. Mark SC&C

seems this post could explain it.

[dontlifttoshift]

Marcus is talking about the upper ball joint possibly binding, I understand how that would work. Ride height too low, swing the ball joint past its usable travel and something has to give.